BRISTOL, UK – With Bristol ice rink under threat of closure and the hockey community fighting desperately to secure a future for the sport in one of England’s biggest cities, this weekend’s ‘Legends of Bristol hockey’ game is a timely showcase. Current Pitbulls’ star Mike Hargreaves tells Pro Hockey News the fight isn’t over.
Mention Bristol to most British Hockey fans and they will probably think of the Pitbulls. A newcomer to the game and only formed three years ago, it seems strange to think that this enthusiastic English National League club could be faced with homelessness so soon.
Long term residents may not be so surprised. Hockey has had a rollercoaster history in a city that has in the past been home to John Cleese, Cary Grant and magician Derren Brown amongst countless other famous faces.
With current rink owners UNITE planning to close the Frogmore Street facility, another chapter of Bristol hockey will come to an end if they receive their sought after planning permission to develop the site. In honesty this would be slightly less painful and dramatic than the ending of the previous rink in the city, namely the Coliseum, which succumbed to a German bomb in 1940 during the Second World War.
Since opening in 1966, Frogmore Street hasn’t always been the most welcoming host to hockey and it wasn’t until 1971 when Southampton used the facility in an emergency that senior ice hockey made a long awaited return to the city.
In 1981, the rink owners Mecca installed the UK’s second set of plexi-glass following its introduction at Streatham in South London. It wasn’t until ten years later that hockey really got a springboard thanks to the takeover of rink operations by John Nike Leisure sport who also owned Bracknell.
Mike Hargreaves (flyfifer.co.uk)
The Bristol Bulldogs were born and then subsequently died within a year after only one year of competitive hockey and despite boasting names such as Derek Higdon, Darren Matias and Lee Odelein. That one season would prove to be inspiration for senior hockey in its present form today, even if it did take sixteen years to return.
“I remember the endless climb up the stairs to the rink” explained Mike Hargreaves, Captain of the Bristol Pitbulls.
“I was 13 years old and had never skated before; I was following my brother (current player/owner Richie Hargreaves) who had talked our parents into taking us to watch the Bulldogs”
“Our next door neighbour Paul Farmer played for the team and we didn’t realise growing up next to him that he was actually a hockey star”
“The closest thing my family had been to hockey before that, was when my mum was pregnant with my brother, my dad took her to the cinema to watch Slapshot, they thought it was going to be a Western”
“At first sight once in the rink Dicky was hooked but I have to admit I wasn’t so sure. The rink was full of spectators and I couldn’t really see what was going on, and I didn’t even know who they were playing or what the score was”
“We got on the general skating session after and I really struggled, I have always been the less natural brother at anything sporty, but I remember the rink was clean and well kept”
It was the Hargreaves brothers and their sister Becci, along with the likes of Mike and Adrian Smith, Geoff O’Hara, Gregg Rockman and Matt Van Der Velden that would rise through the Bristol Bulldogs junior section over the following years as the club continued to operate youth hockey despite the absence of a senior team in the rink.
Richie Hargreaves
In 2009, after a career that saw him make over 200 combined appearances for clubs like London Racers and Basingstoke Bison in the Elite league, and EPL teams Slough and Wightlink, Richie Hargreaves fulfilled a lifetime ambition and secured a return for senior hockey at Frogmore Street.
With their brash advertising, quirky marketing campaigns and professional branding, the Bristol Pitbulls emerged in the UK’s lowest tier looking like something from a Mighty Ducks movie.
Despite the drab surroundings of their rink, the Pitbulls and their newly formed supporters club moved quickly to establish their team, building on the youth development that had for so long cried out for a senior team to wave the club flag.
Mike Hargreaves was first through the door with his brother, arriving after a season with Oxford and soon more familiar faces arrived including the Smith brothers.
The good news just kept coming for the Hargreaves brothers as the Pitbulls secured promotion in their very first year and then followed it up with consolidation in 2010/11 in the stronger English National League 1.
This season has seen the Pitbulls impress even further, moving from strugglers down at the bottom of the league to a comfortable mid table spot and play-off contention. A top class import in the form of Lithuanian International Egidijus Bauba gave the Pitbulls even more of a look of a team that was striving to the next level, however the rollercoaster ride of Bristol hockey was about to hit a dramatic twist and a potential drop into the abyss.
“We came back after the Christmas break refreshed and ready to build towards the play-offs and our world has been turned upside down” admitted Hargreaves, who has iced with Swindon, Wightlink and Oxford in a career spanning almost 350 games.
“Unite want to redevelop the building and turn it into student accommodation. They are aiming to start building in 2013 and will decommission the rink in October this year, although nothing is set in stone as they need the planning permission”
“We need to try and find some sort of solution before the doors close. It’s funny because my son Brody is learning to skate and got his first pair of hockey skates for Christmas”
“I thought I would have all the time in the world to teach him to skate and play hockey but it looks like I won’t have the chance. It is heartbreaking to think that though the sport that has given me so much, I won’t be able to share it with my son in our home city”
The Pitbulls
“The legends game is going to so different as it’s meant to be a bit of fun” laughed Hargreaves, who will line up alongside sister Becci on the ‘Blue’ team.
“However one by one these old boys are turning up to recreational training, with the like of Chris Lowden wearing most of his original goalie kit and jumping around like a 12 year old boy again. This man is hitting 60, blind in one eye and to be kind, a little over weight, so it’s amusing to see him demanding people to shoot their hardest at him”
With a lot of fun predicted at the legends game, looking further ahead brings more sobriety. Whilst there is potential for the Pitbulls to end this current season on a high, if the rink closes then it could be a long wait for any replacement, if one is ever built at all.
“If the rink goes then it will kill all the hard work we have put in over the last three years” admits Hargreaves.
“Without even thinking about the senior team, Dicky (Richie Hargreaves) has just taken over as Head Coach of the juniors. With new style training sessions and growing numbers thanks to the Pitbulls’ school and community programs, the junior club was starting to grow again”
“Even though it’s a few years off of being a major success, the foundations were being built. As for myself, my travelling days are done. With a young family I can no longer play for a club with a round trip commute that is twice the time of the training session”
“Hockey will become a memory and maybe in the future if a new rink is built I may come out of retirement to coach or join a recreational team”
Brody Hargreaves
“As for the other two, Dicky loves his coaching and may look to other clubs to give him a job. Becci will most likely carry on in Swindon as she has been doing for years, due to the lack of a women’s team in Bristol, so the family will still play a part in the sport” “We have an incredible back room team in Bristol the people who love their hockey, but never had the chance to play. These people give up their time and money to support our team and believe me when I say, between all of us; we are not going to lose our rink without one hell of a fight”
British hockey may have functioned in the past without a senior team in Bristol but no one would surely believe that losing the Pitbulls and more importantly the people within the club, would be good for the game.
Bristol legends game takes place this Saturday 11th February 2012 at Frogmore Street Ice rink with a 17.40 face off. The game will also feature the Bristol junior teams and the ever popular Subway Shoot a Foot Long challenge.
Please sign the e-petition to raise awareness about the situation in Bristol:
http://epetitions.bristol.gov.uk/epetition_core/community/petition/1757
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
With thanks to Graham Goodman and Mike Hargreaves for assistance.
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